Imagine our ‘run-on pages’ as a direct reflection of our minds—the raw rush of emotions, the unbroken stream of thought captured on paper. We aim for a seamless flow, inviting readers to immerse themselves in the immediacy of our experiences. We’re striving for a captivating rhythm, creating pages that pulse with life, ensuring readers remain engaged from start to finish.
Our “Stream of Consciousness” Pages that Run on
We utilize a stream-of-consciousness style, much like that of modernist authors such as Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, and Marcel Proust, who used it to delve into memory and identity. Our page runs on to reflect the natural fluidity of thought, weaving together inner and outer worlds. By mirroring the time warps of memory, our pages become more transparent, allowing thoughts to jump, divide, and fragment.
Avoiding Reader Fatigue
Unfiltered memories, while powerful, can easily disorient readers. Therefore, even in stream-of-consciousness writing, we need strategic pauses: ellipses, paragraph breaks, or shifts in tone. Our goal is to energize the page, and subtle contrasts in setting, mood, or tone act as punctuation, offering new perspectives and insights.
How to Sustain the Run-On Pages
Within the stream-of-consciousness style, we can subtly weave themes, allowing readers to connect the dots themselves. While clarity is important, being overly didactic or prescriptive can detract from the reading experience. How do we maintain reader engagement, sustaining their interest without resorting to sentimentality?
We can focus on the rhythm of our sentences. Short sentences create urgency, while longer ones allow for reflection. Within the run-on pages varying sentence length can keep things interesting and prevents monotony.
We can incorporate motif into our narrative. Motifs can be seamlessly integrated into our stream-of-consciousness writing. Acting as anchors, they reappear throughout the narrative, forging connections between disparate moments. A motif, like an extended metaphor, is crafted through deliberate and precise language. However, it transcends mere dictionary definitions, delving into the nuances of memory and experience, enriching the narrative with deeper layers of meaning.
We can write endings that extend beyond the page. Memoir endings, much like life, rarely offer complete closure. In Crying in H-Mart by Michelle Zauner each episodic chapter flows seamlessly, creating continuous thought. The episodes sometimes end with an open-ended question, or a forward-looking statement, or with a subtle echo of the opening lines. Yet, the energy of each ending compels us to read on. Those endings build towards emotional peaks—moments of realization, loss, or triumph—punctuating the stream of consciousness and naturally guiding us to the next chapter.
We can celebrate the fluid nature of memory by writing run-on pages with a similar energy. The challenge lies in crafting memories that readers can experience in real-time. Whether capturing a fleeting moment or a lifetime’s tapestry, our goal is to forge a deeper connection, moving readers through the memoir, one running page at a time.